Method of dyeing textiles



lMay 22, 1923. 1,456,344

H. E., VAN NESS METHOD OF D YEING TEXTILES Filed Oct. '7, 1922 PatentedMay 22, 1923.

UNITED STATES HENRY E. VAN NESS, 0F ELMIRA, NEW YORK.

METHOD or DYEING TEXTILES.

Application ed October 7, 1922. Serial No. 592,964.

To (IU /H'to'm 2'1. may concern.:

.Be it known that l, HENRY E. VAN Nass, a citizen of the United States,residing at Elmira. in the county of Chemung and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Methods of Dyeing Textiles, fullydescribed and represented in the following .specification and theaccompanying drawings. forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to a method of dyeing textiles. The inventionaims to provide for rapid and economical coloring of predetermined partsof textiles, including both textile .materials such as cotton and otheryarns and all kinds of thread, and textile fabrics, whether knitted orwoven.

The invention is based on the discovery that it is possible toimpregnate a portion of a mass of textile material in s uch manner thatthe cross-sectional area of theportion of thematerial impregnated iseither unil form or varies in a predetermined manner throughout thedepth of the mass between opposite surfaces thereof. It is believed thatthe possibility of this has not heretofore been recognized. At allevents, it has heretofore been customary, in coloring certain designatedparts either of textile materials,

or of textile fabrics. to apply'tlie coloring matter separately to eachportion of the tex-4- tile to be colored.

ln accordance with the present invention the textile to be dyed isformed into a mass in a regular manner as distinguished from a haphazardmanner. Limited quantities of liquid dye are then injected into the massat designated points thereof. The dye is forced in under such pressurethat it penetrates the mass before any substantial part of it isdrawn".1 into the pores of the textile by capillary attraction. is a result,'the dye injected at each point spreads into the portion of theI masssurrounding the line along which it was injected. When, therefore, thetextile is extended, it will be found that the textile has beenintermittently colored throughout its length in accordance with apredetermined design.

sists in insuring the rapid penetration of the dye into the mass byforming narrow openings into the mass and injecting the dye into themass lthrough such openings.

The invention may be used for a great variety of diii'erent purposes,some of which si further feature of the invention'con-A are hereinenumerated in order that the advantages of the invention may beunderstood. j

The invention may be used in spotting textile materials, such as yarn orthread. To produce fabric having a mixed or speckled appearance,'it hasbeen customary to spot the yarn from Whichthe fabric is knittedV orwoven, or, in otherwords, to color portions of the yarn located at moreor less regular distances along the yarn. This has been accomplished byapplying the dye separately to each portion of the am to be colored.Thus, each spot has een dyed separately, usually while the yarn istraveling. This method of spotting yarn has proved to be slow andexpensive and,

-in practice, necessitates giving each spot the same color and tint.

When the method'of 'the present invention is applied to spotting yarn, acop of the' yarn is formed by winding the yarn upon a bobbin or othercore in the usual manner. Limited quantities of dye are then injectedinto the cop from designated points at one equal, intervals have beencolored. This rmethod of spotting yarn is extremely ra id,

as an entirevcop of yarn may be spotte in a few moments..r .f

While the invention thus .provides amethod for producing ordinaryspotted yarns much more economically and 'rapidly than has been possibleheretofore, it may also be used to produce anew article of manufacture.Thus, by the method described, predetermined portions of the cop of yarnmay be impregnated with different colors which may be so arranged thatwhen the yarn is unwound, it will be found to be dyed throughout itslength in different colors arranged in accordance with the predeterminedscheme or design. When this yarn is woven or knitted into a fabric, itproduces a multicolor mixture such as has heretofore been produced onlyby kntf i parts ot the mass or pile of fabric, so that all the layers ofthe pile are dyed by the same o eration and in accordance with the samedesign.. When the piece of fabric is spread out or unrolled, it Will befound that it has been dyed throughout its entire len h in accordancewith the predetermined e- Sldn.

ile the invention may thus be used for a variety of dierent purposes, itis believed that its nature may be made plain by a detailed descriptionof a single illustrative method embodying it. l will therefore, describein detail a methodof spotting yarn in accordance With the invention. Indescribing this method I shall refer to the accompanying drawing, inWhich- F ig. 1 is aside view, partly in axial section, of a cop of yarnimpregnated with dye in accordance with the invention;

F ig. 2 is a transverse section of the cop taken on the line 2-2 ofFig". 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side View of the cop, showing, intransverse section, the needle Which is inserted in the mass when thedye is to be introduced, and indicating by a dotted line the area to beimpregnated by the dye;

Fig. d is av partial transverse section of the cop, showing, inlongitudinal section, an apparatus by which the dye may be injectedlinto the cop;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view or" the needle of thisapparatus;. v

Fig. 6 is a transverse section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 shows a yarn spotted in accordance with the invention.

The rst step in spotting yarn in accordance with my invention is to formthe yarn into a mass in the regular manner. rl`his may conveniently bedone by Winding a yarn 10 on a bobbin 11 so as to form the yarn into acop such as is shown in Fig. 1.

' Limited quantities of a liquid dye are then injected into the cop atpredetermined points of its outer or inner surface.

Any apparatus or mechanism capable ot projecting a limited quantity ofliquid under pressure may be used to inject this dye into the cop, inorder to insure a complete penetration of the cop by the dye. it isdesirable that the dye be injtec; through e iaea'aee narrovv opening orslit which may be formed in the cop by means of any sharp instrumentsuch as a pin.

A simple apparatus for opening a slit in the cop` and injecting the ldyefrom` the outer 1" surface of the cop is illustrated inFigs. 4, 5 and 6.This apparatus forms the subject matter of my divisional applicationSerial No. 634,648, filed April 26, 1923. The apparatus is a sort ofsquirt gun having a cylinder in which the dye is placed. ln/thiscylinder is a plunger 16 having a central opening. A. rigid tube or steml? projects from the plunger and passes through a central hole in thecover 18 of. the cylinder. A nozzle 19 is screwed on the outer end ofthe stem 17. The nozzle 19 has a flat outer end 20 and contains acentral hole 21. A sharp needle projects outwardly from the nozzle. Anopen longitudinal groove 26 extends throughout the length of the needle25. The needle extends through the hole 21 of i the nozzle and its innerend is secured to a disc 27 containing a central hole 28. The disc 27 isclamped between the nozzle and the end of the stem.

It' desired, the needle 25 may be provided with a plurality oflongitudinal grooves similar to the groove 26. As, however, 1 have foundit desirable to make the needle of as small cross-section as, possible,l prefer to Vuse a single groove as shown.

The distance Which-the needle 25 projects beyond the front surface 20 ofthe nozzle should not be greater than the depth 10" of the cop at thepoint at which the dye is to be injected, and may be much less than thisdepth. The shape of the portion of the cop colored may be varied byvarying the proportion between the length of the projecting part ot theneedle and the depth of the cop at the point at which the dye isinjected. When it is desired to color a portion ot the cop having auniform crosssectional area throughout its depth, l nd 11o it desirableto use a needle which' extends beyond the nozzle a .distance onlyslightly less than the depth oi the cop at 'the point at which the dyeis to be. injected. The nozzle and needle shown in the drawings areproportioned to color a portionoi3 uniform cross-sectional area at thecentral part'o the cop. In .order to color similar portions near theends ot the cop where its depth is less, a needle projecting a shorterdis- 12C* tance from the nozzle is used.v

ln injecting dye by means of the apparatus described. the needle 25 isrst inserted squarely into the cop from a point 3() at the outersurface-oi the cop. This results in opening a narrow slit 31 into thecop, as best seen in lig. 3. This slit 31 extends in-` wardly nearly tothe inner surface of the eo 1he outer end surface 20 of the nozzle 113@the nozzle, thus forcing through the nozzleA a portion of the liquid dyecontained in the cylinder. The movement given to the cylinder is a quickshort jerk so that only a small quantity of dye is `forced through thenozzle. and this dye is forced out under considerable pressure. Theamount: of dye which is thus forced through the nozzle determines thesize of the spot formed on the cop, and with a little practice thesquirt gun may be manipulated so as to inject just sufficient dye toform a spot of the size desired.

The liquid which is thus forced through the nozzle 19 follows the groove26 and penetrates at once to the inner surface of the cop, that is tosay, the surfacewhich. is against the bobbin 11. Furthermore, it hasbeen found that dye may, in this manner, be distributed uniformly alonga line extending from the point 30 to the innersurface of the cop beforeany material part of it is drawn into the pores of the yarn bylcapillary attraction. This dye then permeates evenlyinto the yarn aboutthis line throughout the depth of the cop. The extent to which the dyespreads is shown by the area 32 within the dotted line in F ig. 3 and bythe darkened areas 32 shown in Fig. 1. The vportion 0f the cop which isdyed by the injection has substantially the same area at the innersurface of the cop as at the outer surface of the cop and itscross-sectional area between these points is substantially uniform.Thus, as seen in the sectioned portion of Fig. 1, the sides 33 of a spot32 are substantially straight. and as seen in Fig. 2, the ends 34 of thespot are substantially straight, throughout the depth of the cop. Itfollows, therefore, that the injection has colored each layer of theyarn in the cop over the same area.

The superficial, as well as the cross-sectional, area of the portion ofthe cop which is dyed by the injection is elongated in shape as shown inthe drawings. This I'believe is caused. both by the shape of the slit'land by the fact that the dye permeates longitudinally of the strands ofyarn more rapidly than across these strands.

Dye is injected into the cop at a number of different points. Theinjections may be made successively or simultaneously. The points 30 atwhich the dye is injected may be arranged in any. desired manner on thesurface of the cop. ln'order to secure a regular spotting of the yarn,however, these points should be located at substantially uniformdistances along a spiral line extending over either the outer or theinner surface of the cop from one end of the cop tothe other. Such anVarrangement of the points 30 on the outer surface is illustrated in Figs. land 2. When the dye has been injected at points arranged in thismanner, it will -be.found, when the yarn 10 is unwound, that the yarnhas been colored at regular intervals throughout its length, as seen inFig. 7. The intervals between the coloredV portions or spots are,however, not of exactly equal 'length throughout the length of the yarn,owing to the fact that when the yarn is wound on the bobbin the turnsnearest the bobbin are shorter than the outer turns. This spacing of thespots has, however, proved t0 be an advantage,

as it gives the desired mixed effect when' the yarn is woven or knittedinto a fabric. If the dye injected at each of the points 30 of the cophas theY same color, the spotted' yarn will be similar to that wliichhasbeen spotted by known methods. j It is apparent, however, that incarrying out the method, dyes of different colors may be injected atdifferent points of the cop. If this is done, the yarn, when unwound,will be found to be dyed throughout its length with a number ofdifferent colors arranged in a regular manner corresponding to thearrangement' of the points on the cop at which the different coloreddyes were injected. Then such' a thread is woven or knitted into cloth,it produces a multicolor mixture such as has heretofore been produced byweaving or knitting together a number of separately dyed threads.

The application of 'the invention to the other uses will, it isbelieved, be understood from the above description of the use of theinvention in spotting yarn. -Thus in applying the inventionto thepartial dyeing of knitted or woven fabric, the same precedure isfollowed. and the same,`or a similar, apparatus may be used to injectthe dye into the mass. It may be noted, however, that when thisapparatus is used for injecting dye into a mass of fabric, or into amass of yarn wound in such a manner that the turns of the thread of onelayer are not substantially parallel to the turns ofthe next layer, thenarrow opening made by the needle is approximately circular incross-sectionl instead of.ibeing a long slit, such as is formed bythrusting the needle into a cop. Furthermore, in the case of a pile offabric, ora cross-wound mass of yarn, the cross-section of the .portioncolored by each injection is not elongated like the colored portion ofthe cop.

ila

That is claimed is:

l. A method of dyeing'textiles, comprising forming the textile to bedyed into a mass in a regular manner, and injecting a limited quantityof liquid dye into the mass under pressure so that the d e penetratesthe mass along the line on wiiich it is injected before anysubstantialportion of it is absorbed into the pores of the textile.

2. A method of dyeing textiles, comprising forming the textile to bedyed into a mass in a regular manner, and injecting a limited quantityof liquid dye into the mass under pressure, so that the liquid isdistributed uniformly along a line extending into the mass before anymateria-l portion of it is absorbed into the pores of the textile.

3. A method of dyeing textiles, comprising forming the textile to bedyed into a mass in a regular manner, and injecting a limited quantity of liquid dye into the lmass from a point at one surface lthereof andunder such pressure that the dye penetrates vto the opposite surface ofthe mass before any substantial portion of it is absorbed into the poresof the textile, so that the dye permeates' into'the portion of the masssurrounding the line-on which the dye is injected throughout the depthof the mass.

4. A method of dyeing text-iles, comprising forming the textile to bedyed into a mass in a regular manner, forming a narrow opening into themass, and injecting a limited quantity of liquid dye into the massthrough sa1d ope-ning.

5. A method of dyeing textiles, comprising forming the textile to bedyed into a mass in a regular manner, forming a narrow opening into themass, and injectin a limited quantity of liquid dye into t e lmassthrough said opening under such pressure that the dye penetrates to thebottom of the opening before any substantial portion of it is absorbedinto the pores of the textile, so that the dye spreads into the portionof the mass adjacent to the sides of the opening.

'5. A method of dyeing textiles, comprising compressing a mass of thetextile to be dyed, injecting a limited quantity oi liquid dye into thecompressed mass .under pressure.

7. A method of spotting yarn, comprising forming the yarn into a mass byWindin it, and injecting, under pressure, l a limlted quantity of liquiddye into the mass.

on the surface to which such external pressure is applied.

l0. IA method of spotting yarn, comprising pressing a nozzle firmlyagainst the surface of a mass of. the yarn, and injecting a limiteduantity of .liquid dye into the mass throng the nozzle.

11. A method of spotting yarn, comprising forming a narrow opening intoa mass'4 of the yarn, and injectmg, under pressure,

a limited'quantity of liquid dye into said openin p l2. method ofspotting yarn, comprising forming a narrow 'opening 'into a mass of theyarn, pressing a nozzle firmly againstv the surface of the mass at theouter end of the opening, and injecting a limited quantity of liquid dyeinto the mass' through said nozzle and sai opening.'

13. A method of spotting yarn, comprising forming the yarn into a massby Winding it, and injecting limited quantites of liquid dye into themass at regularly spaced points of its surface.

14. A method of spotting yarn, comprising injecting limited quantitiesof liquid dye into a Wound mass of. the yarnat points equally spacedalon espiral line on a surface of @le Woun mass. y

15. A method of spotting yarn` comprising in'ecting limited uantities ofdi'erent colore mass of the yarn.

in testimony whereof l: have hereunto' set my hand.. y

HENRY VAN NESS. y

dyes into di erent portions of a,-

